“Wherein there is much comfort to a dealer in the contraband.  Justly reasoned, my worthy Alderman.  Thy logic will, at any time, make a smooth pillow, especially if the adventure be not without its profit.  And now, having so commendabiy disposed of the moral of our bargain, let us approach its legitimate, if not its lawful, conclusion.  There,” he added, drawing a small bag from an inner pocket of his frock, and tossing it carelessly on a table; “there is thy gold.  Eighty broad Johannes is no bad return for a few packages of furs; and even avarice itself will own, that six months is no long investment for the usury.”

“That boat of thine, most lively Seadrift, is a marine humming-bird!” returned Myndert, with a joyful tremor of the voice, that betrayed his deep and entire satisfaction.  “Didst say just eighty?  But spare thyself the trouble of looking for the memorandum; I will tell the gold myself, to save thee the trouble.  Truly, the adventure hath not been bad!  A few kegs of Jamaica, with a little powder and lead, and a blanket or two, with now and then a penny bauble for a chief, are knowingly, ay! and speedily transmuted into the yellow metal, by thy good aid.—­This affair was managed on the French coast?”

“More northward, where the frost helped the bargain.  Thy beavers and martens, honest burgher, will be flaunting in the presence of the Emperor, at the next holidays.  What is there in the face of the Braganza, that thou studiest it so hard?”

“The piece peems none of the heaviest—­but, luckily, I have scales at hand,—­”

“Hold!” said the stranger, laying his hand, which according to a fashion of that day, was clad in a delicate and scented glove, lightly on the arm of the other:  “No scales between us, Sir!  That was taken in return for thy adventure; heavy or light, it must go down.  We deal in confidence, and this hesitation offends me.  Another such doubt of my integrity, and our connexion is at an end.”

“A calamity I should deplore, quite or nearly as much as thyself,” returned Myndert, affecting to laugh; though he slipped the suspected doubloon into the bag again, in a manner that at once removed the object of contention from view.  “A little particularity in the balance part of commerce serves to maintain friendships.  But a trifle shall not cause us to waste the precious time.—­Hast brought goods suited to the colonies?”

“In plenty.”

“And ingeniously assorted?  Colonies and monopoly!—­But there is a two-fold satisfaction in this clandestine traffic!  I never get the notice of thy arrival, Master Seadrift, but the heart within me leapeth of gladness!  There is a double pleasure in circumventing the legislation of your London wiseacres!”

“The chiefest of which is—?”

“A goodly return for the investment, truly—­I desire not to deny the agency of natural causes; but, trust me, there is a sort of professional glory in thus defeating the selfishness of our rulers.  What! are we born of woman, to be used as the instruments of their prosperity!  Give us equal legislation, a right to decide on the policy of enactments, and then, like a loyal and obedient subject,—­”